Bridges Burn
by Lifeshandful
Summary: An extension of the end scene of 6x15. One shot. Complete.


_**Bridges Burn**_

"_**I wanna watch all my bridges burn**_

_**Stand in the rain 'til the page is turned**_

_**Dance in the light of a lesson learned, lesson learned**_

_**I wanna leave everything that hurts**_

_**Never go back to the way we were**_

_**Set it on fire, baby, watch it burn, watch it burn"**_

_**Needtobreathe 'Bridges Burn'**_

Stella's hand caressed Kelly's bare muscular back as their chests heaved in unison, his hot breath tickling her skin as his face was pressed into her neck, and her other hand caressed the skin of his exposed neck with her fingertips silently stroking the hair at the base of his skull. Her own heart was beating fast, hammering against her rib cage, as his fingertips lightly brushed over her ribs and she was sure he could feel it. His other hand was splayed across her back, still and unmoving but so comforting.

The silence between them did not need to be filled, words did not need to be spoken. The act, the intimacy, was all they needed in that moment. Something had changed between them; they could both feel it. A near death experience had been the trigger. It had scared them both, scarred them even. And she had missed him, unsure of almost everything except for him, and for how she felt about him. It had taken something horrific for them to finally let their walls down, to share what they needed too; there was still so much to say but it did not need to be said immediately. They had time.

She had asked, pleaded, for him to tell her how he felt and he chose to show her. It was his way and there was a part of her that loved that about him but there was a part of her that still desperately wanted to hear him say what he felt, to express himself with words. He was an enigma to her in part; one minute he was defying orders, risking his own safety, and running into a building with active gunfire to save her, and then he was avoiding her in every way imaginable, only to show up and ask her to get something to eat with him. She couldn't dare question him, didn't dare to risk pushing him away, not like she had after he saved her from her crazy drug riddled ex.

He was always saving her, he had become her saviour although she could not pinpoint the exact moment he became it. Her fingertips stilled at that realisation and she wanted to pull him closer to her despite already being skin to skin, being entwined with each other. She tightened her hold on him just a little bit more, wrapping her legs that were still around his hips a little tighter, and pressed her face into his neck a little bit further pressing a soft kiss to his collarbone as she did and finally let her fingers move again. She did not want to let go, she did not want him to leave her body, did not want to feel the emptiness that she had tried to avoid, had tried to fill in other ways. He was healing her, and she was healing him but neither knew that they were, they could only feel it within themselves.

**Chicago Fire**

Kelly could feel her erratic pulse beneath his fingertips as his hand moved from her back and up to cradle her neck, and he could feel the beat of her heart as it drummed beneath his fingertips much like his own heart which was pounding violently against his own ribcage. Having her in his arms, wrapped around his body, feeling her flushed soft skin against his own and being inside of her made him realise just what she meant to him, made him realise how blind he had been, and made him pull her closer despite that they couldn't be any closer to each other.

He could have lost her in the house fire turned shooting if the bullet had not have gotten lodged in her radio for which he would be forever thankful for but she still bore the bruise from the impact that was an unsettling visual reminder to him as to just how close it had really been. There were so many times when he had lost her in a way but they had always found their way back to each other, but he could have really lost her in a way where she would never come back to him, where they would never be Stella and Kelly, Kelly and Stella, Severide and Kidd, Kidd and Severide again. He froze as that realisation entered his brain and his breath hitched involuntarily. He knew she felt as his breath hitched as her hold only tightened more even though it was not possible to be any closer.

**Chicago Fire**

Stella slowly and regretfully pulled her face back from his neck making him do the same so that they could both look at each other in the low light of Molly's. Staring into his beautiful blues eyes, Stella felt her breath hitch and her bottom lip quiver as the reality of that scary call finally settled somewhere deep in her brain. If it had not have been for her radio stopping the bullet, it would have penetrated her chest and most likely her heart given the trajectory, and there would be nothing more. All of the things that she had wanted to tell Kelly would have been left unsaid. She could feel the ache that lingered from the impact of the bullet hitting her radio become prominent again.

Kelly had seen and felt the way Stella's emotions had shifted as he watched her closely. He felt as her hand slipped from his back and in between them as she leaned back from where she was sat atop of the bar before her own eyes shifted to her hand as did his. Her hand came to rest on her own chest, over her breast bone, as her fingertips ghosted over the very edge of the large dark bruise that still marred her flawless skin. He felt his breath hitch again at the sight of it because he knew how close he had come to losing her. He had entered that house as he could not stand outside and watch and wait as each round was fired off, and he had seen the fear despite how well she had tried to disguise it and keep her focus on keeping Otis covered and stable and getting them out of that dangerous situation.

"I could have… I could have died. If my radio… if my radio hadn't…" It suddenly felt all too real to her as until that moment she hadn't even thought about all of the 'what if's'. In the days following that terrifying call her focus like everyone else's had been on Otis and staying busy to avoid thinking about anything else but now as she felt Kelly's body against her own, felt the warmth of his skin against her own, it was like everything crumbled as it set in and her defences dropped.

"But your radio did catch the bullet Stella, it did, and you're here, you're here with me and you are okay." He was quick to reassure her that she was alright and suddenly he knew that she had not spoken about what had happened, and he cursed himself for not making sure that she was alright because they had all been focused on Otis and his injuries but she had been shot as well, she had been in the house as well, and she had suffered too, was suffering. He let his hand that was still on her neck drop down to her hand that was on her chest and he placed his hand over hers lightly making sure not to apply any pressure given as he guessed the wider area around the bruise was still tender to the touch.

"I… We wouldn't have gotten this…" Her chest heaved painfully at the thought that she and Kelly would have never gotten to get to this point, would have never gotten to feel the love that they had for each other, would have never gotten to be together unabashed and uninterrupted, and they would have never gotten the next chapter fitting to their story. At that thought, at the thought of everything that had happened and how she could have never have been with him again, of how many things would have gone unsaid and undone between them and by them, she felt as though she couldn't breathe.

"I know." He pressed his forehead against hers as he kept his voice unmeasurably soft. "It's okay, you are okay." He reassured her as the thought of losing her terrified him. She nodded and blew out a soft stuttered breath that he felt against his own skin. "Let's go home… to bed… we could both use some sleep." He had heard her pacing the apartment relentlessly during the past several nights since that fateful call, and he could feel how her body was succumbing beneath his hands to its exhaustion as she was not only physically but emotionally taxed. She nodded but made no effort to move needing a few more moments encased in his arms but he made no move to hurry her because he needed her close just as much as she did.


End file.
